Gaikai Teases Uncharted, Mass Effect, God of War, and More on Their Cloud Platform

PSLS: While Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai was a huge move in the games industry, no one knew just how much support the cloud gaming platform would get from their new parent company, and when. Now, we’ve spotted a bunch of teases by the company at the level of games they’ll be streaming – and some pretty big names are included.

[doctorstrange]

:O do want!

Sexy images too

[CalvinKlein]

This could be really awesome if we can play these games on the vita.

[metsgaming]

that would be glorious. I hope that along with running from some giant server they can set it up where you can use your own ps3 in an improved remote play so the lag is reduced by being closer to your location. That is for games you already bought, there maybe a fee for just stream streaming games idk. Will be interesting to see how its implemented.

[WitWolfy]

WOWOWOWOW let me get this straight... When Onlive was announced back in 2009 it was SLAMMED by almost everybody here that it will be the biigest flop EVER.... (Fast forward to today) Everybody applauds Sony for announcing the same concept... WTF DID I MISS?!?!?!?!

Im starting to hate gamers in general. If Company X does it first its all BAD news.. But if company Z does it then its considered to be just as good as the second coming of Jesus would be.

[dbjj12088]

Streaming PS3 games? I... uh, also do want it as well.
Seriously, my HDD is busting thanks to all these free PS+ games.

[wishingW3L]

streaming games with even better quality than current gen games would be possible too so for those that don't want to jump in to next gen so soon they could enjoy some PS4 tittles on the PS3!

[torchic]

I highly doubt we'll see PS4 titles available for streaming on older consoles. it makes absolutely ZERO sense from a business perspective to do this

[GarandShooter]

@ torchic

If consoles are initially sold at a loss so the company can profit from software sales and licensing fees, what exactly is the downside to making those profits and licensing fees without taking the initial loss?

Please elaborate on how this makes 'absolutely ZERO sense from a business perspective'.

[WiiLovePS360]

GarandShooter

It makes no sense because why would anyone buy the PS4 if their PS3 can play PS4 games?

If you have good enough internet speeds then you would not need to ever buy a PS4, so allowing PS4 games to stream to the PS3 would be a terrible business decision.

[GarandShooter]

WiiLovePS360

Let's try again.

It was reported it cost Sony over $800.00 to manufacture the 60GB PS3 that I purchased for $600.00. They lost over $200.00 for every 60GB PS3 sold. With me so far? Sony lost over $200.00 on every 60GB sold. Why would they do this? Are they insane? No, they bank on making more profit on games sold and licensing fees than they lose on consoles sold.

Google Razor-Razorblade business model to better educate yourself on and further your understanding of the practice.

Now again I ask, what is the downside to NOT TAKING THE LOSS on the razors (consoles), but MAKING THE PROFITS on the razorblades (games)?

You don't think you'll be able to stream those PS4 games to your PS3 for free, do you?

Now if you still think I'm wrong, and I'm open to the possibility, please provide me with specifics based on the business model as to where my argument falls short.

Answer this. Does Netflix not make a profit streaming movies because you didn't buy the PC, SmartTV, tablet, or whatever device you're watching on from them? Is this a terrible business decision to not sell you the viewing device?

[WiiLovePS360]

I don't need to google the razor/blade model, I'm well aware of how it works.

You seem to be forgetting something though - Sony want to be in the console hardware business. If they didn't they would just be a multi-platform software company like Sega now is. Following your logic, that would be the best thing for them as it completely eliminates any loss on hardware and provides them with the maximum possible audience for sales.

Making hardware does a few things that you are completely discounting.

1. It establishes a brand and instills that brand name into the public. Playstation would not be what it is today had they not released consoles. If they stop making hardware, there is no "Playstation", just games.

2. It enables them to push their proprietary formats, something Sony are notorious for doing. By streaming games to any and every device you can't make people be forced to buy your format like UMD, Blu-Ray or Vita proprietary memory cards.

3. Video game consoles do not follow the Razor/Blade model as their are significant reductions in the manufacturing costs of the console within a few years, allowing them to sell at a profit. The PS3 is selling at a profit now, and has been for about 18 months if I remember correctly. The 360 has been selling at a profit for 3-4 years. The Wii has been selling at a profit since its release.

Your Netflix example is pointless because Netflix do not offer a hardware unit for sale. Sony do. They WILL release a Playstation 4, no doubt about it. If they were to offer a PS4 but then say "You can play all the PS4 games on your PS3 if you want to though", noone would buy the PS4. Netflix don't have that problem - there is no physical Netflix box that they could be driving sales away from. If you want Netflix there is only 1 way to get it, which is streaming. If you want PS3 games, currently there is only 1 way to get them - buy a PS3. This would completely eliminate that "obstacle" for the PS4 games, giving people no reason to buy one.

It is a terrible business decision IF Sony wish to remain in the video game console business. If they want to just stick with the PS3 forever and pin all their hopes on streaming games then sure, it makes sense. Something tells me that they aren't quite *that* confident in streaming though.

[GarandShooter]

Some things you haven't considered:

Wanting to be in a particular business alone does not make it a sound business decision.

A lot of people, myself included, would buy a PS4 as we prefer physical copies of our games.

Brand establishment is unaffected by what is sold. Don't Capcom and Activision have recognizable branding as a publisher and Call of Duty as a game?

Propriety formats are great, but I would bet Sony has made far more money licensing Bluray for movies than the sale of those formats through gaming.

When profit on a console is calculated it's basically sale price minus production cost and doesn't take into account R&D. Chips don't become smaller themselves, cases don't redesign themselves. It also doesn't take into account warranty costs. MS spent a billion due to RRoD. When production costs are lowered, it's often accompanied by a retail price drop. If profit on consoles was the main focus it would make more sense to hold the retail price so the margin would increase. But it's not. Lowering production costs allows consoles to be sold at a lower price to increase the consumer base to whom content can be sold, which is where the real profitability lies.

Netflix is a prime example to show that it is the content that drives profits. Otherwise they would try to push a proprietary device for viewing.

Did MS, a well established brand, jump into the console business because of the profitability of hardware, or the increased profits of software sales and licensing?

I never said Sony should stop selling consoles, or would want them to, I just challenged torchic's assertion that it made zero sense from a business perspective. So far neither of you have been able to prove it would negatively affect the profitability of Sony.

[DigitalAnalog]

Gaikai would be an excellent move as long as SONY doesn't try something over-ambitious with this. Backwards compatability is the easiest to stream and does not need the bandwidth required than an HD era games. When the market is ready for such bandwidth it can adjust to inflation the better online connection gets per generation.

[The Great Melon]

Anything from the previous generation shouldn't put a strain on streaming requirements. Their max resolution was 480p. Now current gen and beyond might suffer from compression.

[DigitalAnalog]

Hence the statement:

"Backwards compatability is the easiest to stream and does not need the bandwidth required than an HD era (based) games."

[SilentNegotiator]

So.....Onlive plus exclusives?

RIP Onlive.

[DOMination-]

I wonder if Sony would bring this app to xbox in future? They would make money and people can play uncharted with a better controller

[Majors]

You think MS would allow this ? Xbox users buying/renting PS3 games direct from Sony

[Hellsvacancy]

"and people can play uncharted with a better controller"

NOTHING wrong with my PS3 Controller thank you very much

[FanMan]

lol "better"

[Emilio_Estevez]

Certainly some interesting pictures in there. With the recent updates there has to be something coming soon.

[Sev]

Agreed. This may have been exactly what Sony needed.

[GribbleGrunger]

I find the LBP images the most interesting. Given that you won't have to own the game to play it, that suggests that 'perhaps' people will be able to play user created levels through their phones and laptops, giving the community a huge market to aim at...

It also shows that PS4 demos will be no problem to stream through the PS3 or Vita. This is why I believe that the PS4 will be the last console Sony ever make. There will be revisions, yes, but there's absolutely no reason to sell a more powerful console. All they'd have to do is upgrade server side

[Chitown71291]

Agree with all of you. I truly think Sony is gonna own the online arena on Next-Gen consoles.

[aquamala]

next gen consoles? the point of cloud gaming is that you don't need a powerful local machine. you can have a roku player stream PS4 games.

[HappyGaming]

Theoretically the PS4 could be a fully updated OS that works with Gaikai and runs on the PS3... The PS3 runs the Operating System and the games run on Gaikai!

Its not going to happen obviously but yeah it "would" be possible to get the same graphics as the PS4 this way main difference would be that instead of selling you a PS4 they would sell you a cheap PS3 and invest the rest of the money to upgrade their servers then rent out the service to you via a subscription.

[alexcosborn]

Big news. Can't wait to see how it's implemented.

[NastyLeftHook0]

i cannot wait to hear official reports from sony stating when exactly its coming and any updates ect.

[NastyLeftHook0]

MEGATON

[miyamoto]

BOOM! BADABOOM!

SONY really is the Only One pushing it!

[vega275]

Actually no they aren't the only one's pushing cloud gaming. Many other have already doing it like apple and google and MS. But while everyone is building theirs from the ground up. Sony is the only one that had to buy a already established company to get their foot in the door

But yes they are the ones to have theirs running first, since they put little efforts in creating it.

[Relientk77]

Awesome can't wait to hear more on this sounds great

[aquamala]

would be interesting to see if they make these games look better than on PS3, because PS3 is not the limitation here anymore, they can look like PC games.

Uncharted in 1080p, omg.

[stuntman_mike]

sounds just like onlive (which no one liked because of the lag) but with PS3 games.

[Hazmat13]

im sorry for being a out of the loop guy but whats is this?

[doctorstrange]

Gaikai is a cloud gaming company, that means you can stream games - almost like Netflix, but for games - onto your PS3, PC, iPad or whatever and instantly access the title with no download.

Sony bought Gaikai in August for $380 million, SCE's largest acquisition.

[SAE]

yea , but will it take a lots of my network ?. is it like watching a video in youtube , i really can't understand what it do...

[doctorstrange]

The claim is 5mb+, although the more the better.

[andibandit]

@doctorstrange yeah for a game of chess

[BigStef71]

Can someone explain how cloud gaming works exactly? It sounds like an awesome idea

[GribbleGrunger]

Try it for yourself. Go to the Gaikai site and stream a couple of demos.

[BigStef71]

I just wanted to know from the technical aspects how it worked exactly. I don't see a demos section anywhere on the site. I guess it must be a new layout for this announcement

[doctorstrange]

The demos are gone now

[BitbyDeath]

Wouldn't PS3 need Wireless-N for this to work properly?

[lashes2ashes]

Lots of people stream Netflix in hd and play onlive without wireless N.

[DreamTension]

Wireless G is 54 megs. So, unless your internet connection is faster than that, it won't be a limitation. Wireless N would be best for local 100 meg connections on your network.

[kingPoS]

While normal wireless G can top out at 54mb, it's actual throughput is usually around 38mb or less due to overhead. (security, crosstalk ect)

Edit:
Am I the only one here stuck with dsl?
Comcast cost too much in my area for only internet (i shun cable)

[BitbyDeath]

Thanks for the responses, was not sure as streaming Vidzone does go occasionally slow for me. (Only got a 10mb connection)

[ziggurcat]

uh oh... a positive sony article...

brace yourselves, sony doom articles are coming.

[Gridloc]

Coming soon...

5 reasons why Sony's Gaikai service will fail...

[Bowzabub]

Hey! That's MY line!

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

So this means uncharted on android and pc? I think sony is taking over the globe and playstation is bigger than just a box. It's a service. But of course disks will still be available.

I hope they have fast internet on mars. So everyone can enjoy.

[GrahamGolden]

well done sony...well done...clap clap clap

[Vickistheman]

Great news for Sony and gamers worldwide.

I wonder how long before the "Sony's Gakai will fail" articles come out in droves. The media can't have too many positive Sony articles after all.

And I wonder how long before the media make it seem like Microsoft are the ones pushing cloud gaming? lol

[ChunkyLover53]

I must admit I'm confused a bit, most people agree that digital only content is a bad thing, they are against it. People on this very site have bashed things like OnLive from the beginning.

OnLive was sold for less than 6 million dollars, that is a huge flop. It looks like Sony is pushing for more and more digital content, they tried with PSP GO, they try to entice people to buy digital on Vita and PS3, now they are trying to eliminate actually owning a game, you wouldn't even have the game saved on a HDD. Streaming games is not owning games, licenses expire and issues will abound.

I have also seen a lot of comments saying this is Sony's answer to backwards compatibility, which I have to disagree with, backwards compatibility is putting in a disk that you bought in a previous generation and when you put it in a next gen console the game works. Making you buy the game over again and streaming it isn't backwards compatibility.

I'm surprised so many people here are happy about an obvious attempt to get rid of physical media as a whole

[MoreRPG]

Agree but I don't see cloud gaming replacing physical media anytime soon.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

Most Xbox Fanboys are actually bashing Sony because they say MS and Apple both were talking about doing this for years...

Apple is toying with it now as we know, but as far as gaming goes it looks like Sony is the only one making this a worthy atempt!

[maniacmayhem]

I don't remember Xbox Fanboys doing this but I do remember when the rumor of the 720 going completely digital, N4G went nuts saying how this was a stupid move by MS and it wouldn't work.

Not to mention most who said they would never give up physical media.

[Karum]

OnLive was sold for that amount because the state that business was in. It hadn't been run well and had a lot of debt.

OnLive was valued at one point at about $1.5 Billion by some analysts but when a business gets into the kind of trouble OnLive did then it's bargaining power with buyers is basically nullified.

[DOOMZ]

thanks but no thanks... I LIKE TO OWN MY GAMES!

[GiantFriendlyCrab]

PS4 Cloud Gaming here we go. BUT Yes, the PS4 will support physical media

[josephayal]

SONY have no boundaries

[MonopolyRSV]

Cloud gaming = garbage.

[jizzyjones]

Good thing 4G is coming to UK soon then :)

[Gridloc]

I think a subscription service with an annual fee (or monthly) for older games, and the option to also buy new games would work great.
Nothing has been announced yet so why all the negative posts here. Just cause you need a physical copy? Great thing about cloud service is that you can play anywhere ( bandwidth permitting ) and on multiple devices. Had this been an MS announcement those physical media needs would be greatly reduced. Funny how this website works...

[Ben_Grimm]

"Had this been an MS announcement those physical media needs would be greatly reduced. Funny how this website works..."

No, I'm pretty sure if MS did this we would see a lot more hate. For the longest a lot of N4G members dreaded going digital and always supported physical media. The arguement was that they wanted to actually own the disc.

Another complaint was that MS having their exclusives on PC's but now a lot of people can't wait to play PS3 exclusives on other platforms.

So the the views I guess has shifted away from just being tied to one platform and ownage of actual copies. It seems a lot of people do want to play games on their mobile device through streaming.

"I think a subscription service with an annual fee (or monthly) for older games, and the option to also buy new games would work great."

PS+??

[shenpo_shin]

well done sony,looks amazing..cant wait

[PS4OUR]

There is alot of potential here.

PS3, PS4, Vita and Sony Mobile games all available to play across any Sony device.
That would be the killer blow.
To me this looks like the Playstation consoles will be an "always on", constantly connected to the cloud for streaming, game saves, game content etc. etc.
Interesting indeed...

[telekineticmantis]

what will be coming to PS3, that is what I wanna know. Just tell me what I have to pay. As for this news, just bring it to Vita and you have yourself a hit.

[ElementX]

I don't think cloud gaming will be feasible in the long run. I'd rather have a physical copy on hand in case my internet connection goes down or if I want to bring my system to a location without reliable high speed.

[ajax17]

It's a shame I can't afford fast internet. I can barely play online as it is.

[kingPoS]

I know the feeling.
My laptop is so used to dsl speed it (and i was too) was overwhelmed when it had a taste of 45mb comcast. lol

[Pillsbury1]

I think the majority of the service will be to stream classic ps1 and ps2 games on tablets and mobiles. For now Sony will start small with streaming it's hit classics on major platforms like android and maybe vita. I can see when the ps4 comes out this will play a much larger role on the system.

[ElementX]

Everybody is so excited about this but nobody has any clue how good it will be. Just look at OnLive, once worth over $1B and sold for less than $5m. So you want to take your gaming mobile on a tablet? Most coffee shops have crappy internet speeds. 4G? Sure, if you want to shell out a lot of money for a decent data package every month. Home internet services may go ahead and create bandwidth caps. I really don't see why everybody says this is megaton.

[knifefight]

Hold onto your butts... o_o

[EliteDave93]

People will still need to have one hell of a internet in order to use it. And i know for a fact that not alot of people have that good internet ( including myself )

[Braid]

I called it: backwards compatibility. It looks like we'll be able to play PS3 games on our next generation Sony consoles through the cloud-based streaming service. This way there won't be any compatibility chip included in the PS4's hardware, which is a relief in terms of production cost, and they'll most liklely sell subscriptions to those who'd like to use the service, from which they'll make profit. Yep, seems just like that from the looks of it.

[Plagasx]

Onlive isn't doing so well....

[Bowzabub]

My 20meg pipe is ready and willing. Thanks Sony.

[whoyouwit04]

you sony fans are just like Mitt Romney, you will say anything to make it look like sony is making a wining descision. you all stayed dogging xbox for having games on pc but praise sony when they do the same can say hypocrite.

Never mind the fact that true sony makes a profit, But the bottom lins is if you have a pc you have absolute no reason to own a ps3 period, twist it all you want. Then you report me for trolling for sateing what is fact, I tell ya you sony fans are something else.

[ATi_Elite]

Your comment is kinda right and YES the Sony fanboys will Rage Rape you of Bubbles just for being kinda sorta right!

P.S. so can I now flash two middle fingers (Stone Cold Steve Austin style) to all those who said i would NEVER EVER be able to play Killzone 2/3 on my PC!

cause besides the Russian PS3 Emulator it looks like Gaikai will also allow KZ2/3 to be played on my PC as well.

[shenpo_shin]

you WILL pay sony tho either u like it or not

not microsoft no nothing....just sony so i think u can take back that middle fingers of yours and put it right back to your @ss kkthxbb

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

Most people (including myself) want to own the physical copy of something... BUT in this day and age with Apple products being such a phenomenon (not with me though), it's obvious downloading music/videos to Ipods/Ipads/Iphones is not a problem to a big population!

There is a market for it, and although Im bummed about it... it's obviously got a market for DL only stuff and there's plenty of appealing products that are enticing the public to indulge in DLing!

[izumo_lee]

Love them or hate them i do not care, but gamers should at least appreciate the direction that Sony is trying to take the game industry at present & possibly the future.

They are the only ones taking risks to improve the industry by offering numerous possibilities that may or may not succeed, even in the financial difficulties they are currently in.

Cloud gaming may not be standard now but imagine 5 years from now or maybe even less if thing go according to plan. Every new tech takes time to become mainstream & Sony's purchase of Gaikai is them looking toward the future & growing there brand to as many devices as possible.

I can not wait to see what Sony & Gaikai are planning but i believe it will be glorious for us gamers.

[ElementX]

Sony isn't trying to take the industry any direction. OnLine already tried and failed and Sony is just copying the idea

[izumo_lee]

I think the problem with Onlive is they tried to be more than what they are. Onlive tried to be a platform for games rather than what they should have been and that is a service. That is why i think Onlive failed.

Sony on the other hand is using Gaikai as a service for their platforms & other Playstation mobile devices. They are using the tech that Gaikai has to expand their brand to more than just Playstation fans.

[WiiLovePS360]

If Sony are to stream their entire PS1/2/3 catalogue of games to PC then what reason is there to buy a Playstation console? I can't see it happening for that fact alone.

I think it will be used for demos along with replacing the "Cross Buy" initiative - you buy a PHYSICAL copy of a game and have it in your PS3 that is connected to the internet, and you can then stream that game to a Vita/PC. This way Sony get around any of the "Cross Buy" situations where someone buys a physical PS3 copy, gets a Vita copy for free, and sells it to someone else. You're only getting the 1 game, but playable on 2 consoles as long as it is physically in your PS3.

As for iOS/Android devices, I don't see any way that PS1/2/3/Vita games could work. Touch devices simply do not have the screen space nor the usability to play console games - how would you aim down the sights and shoot while ducking in Call of Duty for example on a touch screen that is 4" in size? that requires the use of 2 analogue sticks, 2 shoulder buttons, and another face button. How is that possible with just your 2 thumbs on a touch screen?

I'm eagerly anticipating their announcement as I love all things technology related, but I am not getting my hopes up like a lot on here seem to be. Control issues aside, internet speeds are not up to scratch in the majority of the world or even households where it is available to make streaming games usage widespread. I personally couldn't even use Gaikai in my country as it wasn't available, and even if it was my internet isnt capable of streaming HD video with the less than 150ms lag that is needed for input response times in games.

Looking forward to it, but not holding my breath on it being anything "groundbreaking".

[DERKADER]

Am I the only person that doesn't wan't their games compressed then streamed over the internet. It's cool for demo purposes and possibly mobile devises but this is not how I wan't to play my games at home.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

PS3 is the PS4

[taquito]

LAG and LATENCY are not "next gen " by any means, sony is looking to go the cheap route, cloud gaming is, and will be for the next 3-5 years, TRASH! It is in its infancy, and is not even on par with pc gaming from 6 years ago, sure, it is able to delivery slightly better than console graphics, but at the cost of latency and lag.

....and if you think you are going to play ps3 games on ps4, if there ever is one, and they will be free, hmmmm .....I own some rental property on the moon I'd like to sell you :)

[BlaqMagiq24]

I wonder how this wll turn out in the end. However you can't deny the effort Sony is putting out with this. I hope it goes well for them.

[shivvy24]

NOW THATS A KILLER APP

[Bowzabub]

A couple of points people are forgetting. 1: What is stopping Sony from including a digital copy(license) with physical media? It is the norm now Is it not? 2: Almost every cloud based service has an option to download. Have a nice day! Thank you Sony.

[fourthpersonview]

... and this is when Sony exclusivity dies.

[ninjahunter]

So this means ile be able to play Sony games on my PC?
AWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAAAAAaa

[Xer0_SiN]

sony just infected itself into the internets with this pipe bomb. sony = skynet

>=)

[TheKayle]

so no more exclusives? or just time exclusives or gaikai will be just on ps? coz on their new site if u read Q&A the last question..samsung is now a partner...so uhm....

anyway here in italy we dont have any bandwith cap and i think still isnt the time for cloud gaming ..maybe in 5/8 years

this would be a win win situation for MS ....having ps games on windows 8 and still their exclusives for xbox hardware.....

I think this could be for sony the beginning of the end of the fight to the high end hardware war against microsoft with this news...and im not happy at all ......

[Karum]

Definitely an exciting service and I can't wait to see where this type of Technology and service goes in the future, particularly what Playstation does with it.

In the here and now though it doesn't grab me too much simply because I worry about performance and by that I mean how dependent this is on an internet connection and that connection performing at top level throughout. My internet connection is absolutely superb about 99% of the time but there's just so many other factors between the user and the server streaming the game.

Not to mention people's connection speeds being an issue in certain places or people's data caps.

In future that stuff won't be a problem for most but in the here and now it very well is an issue. Though I suspect Sony sees these issues too (only a fool wouldn't) and very much sees this as a service that will evolve over time and the real benefits of it will only truly be seen in the years to come.

[Tzuno]

Welcome to digital distribution only where what you buy you don't physically own.

[Mkai28]

I can see it know, Sony's gaikai service down for matienance. So from time to time we would have to wait to play the games we purchased. Still, it's interesting!

[rickyjb23]

there is also a gt5 screen on there about page